When I was first diagnosed with IBD, I stared at my full pillbox feeling overwhelmed and unsure how I would remember to take all my meds throughout the day. I quickly learned how to keep track of my medications and thought I’d share these five hacks to help you stay on top of yours.
My Medication List Upon Diagnosis
After my GI gave me my official ulcerative colitis diagnosis in 2014, I stopped at the pharmacy before returning to my college campus at William Jessup University.
At the pharmacy counter, my eyes widened as the pharmacist rang up the drugs—one, two, three, four, five, six…
1. Prednisone
This is an inflammation-reducing steroid. Prednisone suppresses your immune system so that your body stops attacking your own cells. It’s a great short-term solution, but it should not be used as a long-term maintenance drug. Prednisone is oftentimes the first medication prescribed to IBD patients to stop the current flare until the patient starts a maintenance drug.
2. Nexium
When I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, my GI also informed me I had stomach ulcers caused by H. pylori. She prescribed me the acid-reducer Nexium to lessen the acid in my stomach to allow healing to take place.
3. Clarithromycin
This is an antibiotic that reduces inflammation in a specific infected area. When taken with Amoxicillin, these drugs work together to kill H. pylori bacteria and treat stomach ulcers.
4. Amoxicillin
Amoxicillin is an antibiotic that fights infections caused by bacteria. When combined with Clarithromycin, it eliminates stomach ulcers by destroying H. pylori bacteria.
5. Sucralfate
Like the last few drugs listed above, Sucralfate also helps heal ulcers. But this drug paints a coating over the ulcers to prevent that portion of the stomach lining from future injury.
6. VSL#3 Probiotic (now Visbiome)
This is a probiotic, which means it contains strains of billions of healthy bacteria. VSL#3 helps rebalance your gut flora so that there’s a healthy equilibrium of good and bad bacteria.
*Please note: there was a legal case with VSL#3, and I now take the probiotic Visbiome. You can read the details here.
7. Healthy Trac Prebiotics
Healthy Trac is a prebiotic powder that creates a healthy environment in your GI tract so that the good bacteria can flourish. A prebiotic is indigestible fiber (a substance the body can’t digest) and is essentially food for the good bacteria in your gut. In short, prebiotics create a healthy in your digestive tract to encourage good bacteria to thrive.
Creating a Medication Schedule
Being on all seven of these medications at once was tough because some had to be taken on an empty stomach, some had to be taken with food, and some had to have a certain amount of hours in-between one another so they didn’t interfere with one another.
The structured and organizational side of my brain celebrated, and I crafted myself a chart with the time each day I’d take each pill.
And guess what? The itinerary was successful! I rarely missed a dose because I stuck a copy of this schedule in the plastic slip of my college binder that I carried with me every day—not the cutest binder cover, but very practical.
How My Medication List Affected My Eating and Sleeping Schedules
And though this schedule helped me stay organized, it was definitely a challenge to alter my eating schedule to fit around this new medication schedule (after all, isn’t part of college about eating whatever you want at the oddest of hours?).
I mean, I’d go as far as to say that my medication list altered my sleep schedule! For example, Clarithromycin, Amoxicillin, and Healthy Trac are best taken with food, but Nexium is most effective taken one hour before eating. So I had to wake up early to take my Nexium dose on an empty stomach before eating breakfast and the other meds.
And since Sucralfate should be taken on an empty stomach, I had to stay up late enough to take it after dinner and before bedtime!
That’s a lot to remember on top of being a full-time college student!
So in addition to struggling to keep up with my classes because of my IBD symptoms, trying to connect with my new roommates, working part-time, volunteering at a local coffee shop once a week, and still adjusting to my new home on campus, this vital eating agenda added one more thing to my daily life.
Five Hacks to Help you Keep Track of Your Medications
Are you taking tons of meds throughout the day? Here are some tips to help you remember to take them on time and avoid skipping doses.
1. Purchase a pillbox
Pillboxes can help you categorize your pills by the time of day. There are typical a.m./p.m. pillboxes, and even larger ones that include more compartments throughout each day. There are lots of types on Amazon!
2. Write on the medication bottle
On my actual pill bottles from the pharmacy, I wrote the number of pills I take per day. Not only did this help me memorize the doses of all my meds, but it made refilling my pill box each week much simpler.
3. Bring spare pills with you everywhere
I suggest bringing spare pills with you in your purse, backpack, or pocket. That way when you’re out and about, you won’t accidentally skip a dose. You can bring these meds in a plastic bag, tiny pill cases, or just leave them in the medication bottle or pack.
4. Carry portable snacks
I’d also recommend that you take small snacks with you when you’re on-the-go. This will be helpful if there are certain meds you need to take with food, or if you know taking particular meds on an empty stomach make you nauseous. I like to bring granola bars, bags of trail mix, and Belvita crackers.
5. Use reminders and alarms
And, of course, technology to the rescue! I set many alarms and backup reminders on my phone to help ensure I never missed a dose.
Remember That You’re Not Alone
I know this can be overwhelming, especially when you’re first diagnosed. Taking a whole bunch of important meds might take a while to get used to, but if you use a combination of the above hacks and try some of your own, you’ll find a system that works for you.
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